MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?

Response: Patients who suffer in-hospital cardiac arrest at nights and during weekends (off-hours) are known to have lower rates of survival to hospital discharge, compared to their counterparts who have cardiac arrest during the daytime on weekdays (on-hours). Since overall survival to hospital discharge has improved over the past decade for the approximately 200,000 patients who experience in-hospital cardiac arrest annually, our study sought to determine whether survival differences between off-hours and on-hours arrest has changed over time.

On-hours was categorized as 7:00 a.m. to 10:59 p.m. Monday to Friday. Off-hours was categorized as 11:00 p.m. to 6:59 a.m. Monday to Friday or anytime on weekends. Among 151,071 adult patients in the GWTG-Resuscitation registry who experienced in-hospital cardiac arrest between January 2000 and December 2014, slightly over half (52%) suffered a cardiac arrest during off-hours. We found that survival to hospital discharge improved significantly in both groups over the study period — for on-hours: from 16.0% in 2000 to 25.2% in 2014; for off-hours: 11.9% in 2000 to 21.9% in 2014.

However, despite overall improvement in both groups, survival from in-hospital cardiac arrest at nights during off-hours remained significantly lower compared to on-hours by an absolute 3.8%.

MedicalResearch.com: What should readers take away from your report?

Response: Survival to hospital discharge has improved in both groups of patients. This is reassuring and suggests that health care providers and hospital systems must be doing something right. However, the persistent survival disparities between on-hours and off-hours arrests remains concerning. To ensure that improved survival trends are sustained over time, narrowing this gap must be made an area of focus for quality improvement efforts. Data regarding mediator variables, such as physician and nurse staffing patterns and how they changed over the course of the study was not available for this study.

MedicalResearch.com: What recommendations do you have for future research as a result of this work?

Response: Since timing of in-hospital cardiac arrest appears to impact survival outcomes, future research should aim at identifying factors that may be associated with these described survival discrepancies and care processes that mitigate against them.

Disclosures: The authors received research support from the Geisinger Health System Foundation and the National Institutes of Health.

The information on MedicalResearch.com is provided for educational purposes only, and is in no way intended to diagnose, cure, or treat any medical or other condition. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health and ask your doctor any questions you may have regarding a medical condition. In addition to all other limitations and disclaimers in this agreement, service provider and its third party providers disclaim any liability or loss in connection with the content provided on this website.

Jeffrey H. Silber, M.D., Ph.D.The Nancy Abramson Wolfson Professor of Health Services Research
Professor of Pediatrics and Anesthesiology & Critical Care, The University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine
Professor of Health Care Management
The Wharton School
Director, Center for Outcomes Research
The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia
Philadelphia, PA 19104

Medical Research: What is the background for this study?

Response: We wanted to test whether hospitals with better nursing work environments displayed better outcomes and value than those with worse nursing environments, and to determine whether these results depended on how sick patients were when first admitted to the hospital.

Medical Research: What are the main findings?

Response: Hospitals with better nursing work environments (defined by Magnet status), and staffing that was above average (a nurse-to-bed ratio greater than or equal to 1), had lower mortality than those hospitals with worse nursing environments and below average staffing levels. The mortality rate in Medicare patients undergoing general surgery was 4.8% in the hospitals with the better nursing environments versus 5.8% in those hospitals with worse nursing environments. Furthermore, cost per patient was similar. We found that better nursing environments were also associated with lower need to use the Intensive Care Unit. The greatest mortality benefit occurred in patients in the highest risk groups.

Co-Founders of MedicalResearch.com

Not Intended As Specific Medical Advice.

Material provided on this site is for background educational use only. It is not intended as specific medical advice. Publication of material on MedicalResearch.com does not imply endorsement of any of the content.
Please consult your primary care provider regarding your specific medical condition.
In the event of an emergency, call 911.

Join the discussion

MedicalResearch.com is not a forum for the exchange of personal medical information, advice or the promotion of self-destructive behavior (e.g., eating disorders, suicide). While you may freely discuss your troubles, you should not look to the Website for information or advice on such topics. Instead, we recommend that you talk in person with a trusted medical professional.

The information on MedicalResearch.com is provided for educational purposes only, and is in no way intended to diagnose, cure, or treat any medical or other condition. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health and ask your doctor any questions you may have regarding a medical condition. In addition to all other limitations and disclaimers in this agreement, service provider and its third party providers disclaim any liability or loss in connection with the content provided on this website.